Multi-channel media distributors provide or otherwise manage access to multiple media content channels. For example, a user may have a subscription to a cable television provider or other multi-channel media distributor. The subscription allows a user to access multiple channels of media content from different media providers (e.g., a news channel, a cooking channel, a movie channel, etc.) via the cable television provider. Some providers of media content may provide access to media content over the Internet in addition to providing televised content. For example, a news organization may broadcast news programs over a cable television channel and provide access to the same news programs via the news organization's website.
A subscription with a multi-channel media distributor may allow a user to access both the televised broadcasts and the web content provided by the news organization or other media content provider. For example, the subscription may include authentication credentials (e.g., a user name and password) that allow a user to access online content from websites hosted by media content providers that are also affiliated with the multi-channel media distributor. For example, a cable television provider may include a first channel with content from a news organization and another channel with content from a movie studio. A subscription to the cable television provider may include authentication credentials that can be used to access online content from the news organization's website and the movie studio's website. In some cases, accessing each media content provider's website may cause the user to be redirected to an authentication web page for the multi-channel media distributor, which can require the user to re-enter the authentication credentials each time the user accesses a different website associated with a respective media channel.
Some solutions allow authentication credentials for a multi-channel media distributor to be entered once by a user without requiring re-entry each time the user accesses a different media channel associated with the multi-channel media distributor. For example, a third party service such as Adobe Pass may generate an authentication token after authentication with the multi-channel media distributor and use the authentication token to obtain access to different media channels.
Existing solutions for automating authentication with a media channel provider across different media channels may present disadvantages. For example, some multi-channel media distributors may prohibit the use of authentication tokens to facilitate access across different media channels. This problem may be addressed by using authentication credentials stored in a cookie to authenticate a user with the media content provider when websites for different media channels are accessed. However, some devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, may enforce strict sandboxing policies that prevent the sharing of cookies between different applications. If different media applications are used to access different media channels on such computing devices, a user may be unable to use third party services such as Adobe Pass to access different media channels without repeatedly entering authentication credentials.
It is desirable to provide automated authentication with multi-channel media content providers in sandboxed computing environments that prevent sharing of cookies between media applications.